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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22816705">Boy Troubles</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/cloverfield/pseuds/cloverfield'>cloverfield</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Shiritsu Horitsuba Gakuen, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Alternate Universe - Shiritsu Horitsuba Gakuen, Eavesdropping, I Overheard You Talking About Your Crush (Who Is Actually Me), M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Pre-Relationship, Teacher-Teacher relationship, UST Meme, Unrequited Love</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 11:29:23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,521</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22816705</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/cloverfield/pseuds/cloverfield</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <b>UST meme: I Overheard You Talking About Your Crush (Who Is Actually Me)</b>
</p><p>It’s not– it’s not that Kurogane doesn’t deserve to have a relationship, if he wants one. If there is someone he cares for, then Fai wishes him nothing but happiness.</p><p>It’s just that– <i>that–</i></p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Fay D. Fluorite/Kurogane, Kurogane &amp; Tomoyo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>60</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Boy Troubles</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>CW: the concept of student/teacher relationships are mentioned very briefly, but with disapproval and disgust; there is no glorification of them in this prompt fill, and the subject is dismissed immediately. That said, if you are sensitive to the topic, please read with caution or not at all.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>“Ugh. Anyway, enough about my girl troubles – I want to hear about your <span class="u">boy</span> troubles.”</em>
</p><p>Tomoyo’s voice is clear and sweet, floating from behind the 3C classroom door and down the hallway, and Fai shakes his head with a smile as he crests the last flight of stairs, squinting a little in the glare of late afternoon sunlight and arms laden with a days worth of chemistry worksheets he needs to finish grading.</p><p>Ah, young love. It must be sweet to have the potential of romance spilling before you like rose petals strewn across a garden path… though perhaps cherry blossoms would be more accurate, considering even the staff of Horitsuba Gakuen know that young Miss Daidouji harbours a <em>tendre </em>for the charming Miss Kinomoto. Miss Kinomoto who is, last Fai heard through the gossip grapevine, dating the bashful Master Li.</p><p>Miss Daidouji is a young lady of esteemed character and a very kind heart; she would never seek to come between such a sweet young couple. It’s good then that Tomoyo has someone to talk to about her feelings, however unrequited they must remain.</p><p>“<em><span class="u">Tch</span>. I told you, I’m not your damn Agony Aunt. Go bother one of the Sumeragi twins if you want, ugh, <span class="u">romantic advice</span>.”</em> </p><p>The last two words drip with disdain, as well they might considering the speaker: Kurogane Suwano himself, P.E. and Health teacher and growly bear extraordinaire.</p><p>
  <em>“Aww, <span class="u">Kurogane</span> – you’re no fun. Mum said you had to be nice to me at school, remember? You’re my cousin first and my teacher second!”</em>
</p><p>Fai can almost hear the flowery bubbles blooming as Tomoyo giggles, and he pauses a little uncomfortably outside the classroom door. …Only because the stairs terminated naturally at that point! Certainly not because he was <em>eavesdropping</em>.</p><p>
  <em>“Being your cousin doesn’t mean I’m obligated to tell you about my damn love life!”</em>
</p><p>Tomoyo laughs louder, completely unphased by the rumbling growl issuing forth from a man Fai knows for a <em>fact </em>measures 196cm in his socks (thank you, staff health check day!) and has biceps almost as thick as Fai’s own thighs, if not actually thicker. It’s rather like listening to a tiger roar at a kitten, only for the kitten to meow back delightedly. Tiger or not, when it comes to his cousin, Kurogane's bark is definitely worse than his bite.</p><p>Still. It’s a little strange to think that only a handful of years separate Kurogane from his students – he’s a new teacher, twenty-three years old and a fresh graduate from a prestigious college, not to mention an alumni of the school itself. Swept up by Horitsuba’s semi-regular recruit drive for new and promising staff, the Chairwoman herself had vouched for Kurogane during his job application… much like she had for Fai, when he’d first come over to Japan three years ago. </p><p>
  <em>“Oh, so you <span class="u">have</span> a love life now, do you? The last time I asked you told me that you left dating dumb boys behind you when you graduated University.”</em>
</p><p>Slowly, but with the gravity of the first snowflake fluttering before an avalanche, a single sheet of paper slips free from the sheaf in Fai’s arms.</p><p>
  <em>“Tch! You don’t even <span class="u">like</span>guys, why do you wanna hear me talk about ‘em?!”<br/>
</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“But you’re so <span class="u">cute</span>though, when you get all flustered and blushy! Come on – tell your baby cousin what’s up. Is there a Mr Right in your life, hmm? Or did you swear off men like you swore off liquor?”</em>
</p><p>Kurogane swearing off liquor seems highly unlikely (especially considering he managed to hold his own against Yuuko ‘I Was Weaned On Vodka’ Ichihara at the last end-of-year Staff Dinner Formal) but that’s not what makes Fai start: rather, it’s the thought of Kurogane having a man in his life that brings a flush of sweat to his face and a shudder of shock to his stuttering heart.</p><p>It’s not– it’s not that Kurogane doesn’t deserve to have a relationship, if he wants one. If there is someone he cares for, then Fai wishes him nothing but happiness.</p><p>It’s just that– <em>that</em>–</p><p>
  <em>“If I tell you, will you leave me the hell alone?”</em>
</p><p>Fai can hear the tension in Kurogane’s shoulders even from here. He does that when he’s annoyed or nervous: scrunches up, hunches down into his seat as though he’d rather slide under his desk and escape.</p><p><em>“Ooh! So I <span class="u">was</span>right – you are pining after a new love!”  </em>Tomoyo claps her hands, gasping in put-upon and delighted scandal.</p><p>“<em>Fu– <span class="u">friggin</span>’ hell</em>.” Kurogane sighs gustily, and with all the joy and vivacity of a man having his fingernails pulled off by rusty pliers, lays his head down on his desk.</p><p>(Fai knows that’s what he’s doing, even without seeing it – the soft <em>thunk </em>of Kurogane’s forehead meeting cheap wooden desktop is a very familiar sound from hours spent listening to Yuuko’s cheerful lectures in staff meetings.)</p><p>
  <em>“Yeah – yeah, there’s a guy.”</em>
</p><p>Suddenly nerveless, Fai’s fingers twitch. Paper crumples gently in his grasp.</p><p>
  <em>“He – ah, <span class="u">hell</span>, you’re gonna make me say it aren’t you? I like him. A <span class="u">lot</span>. More than I should, considering. It’s not – I couldn’t tell him, not if I wanted to keep my job.”</em>
</p><p>This time it’s real horror that colours Tomoyo’s voice, her words urgent. <em>“Kurogane – <span class="u">please</span>tell me it’s not a student, is it? Because that is so wrong on several levels, and also <span class="u">illegal</span>–”</em></p><p>
  <em>“WHAT?!” </em>
</p><p>Kurogane’s horrified yelp floods warm relief into the icy knot of Fai’s stomach. </p><p><em>"</em> <em>Fuck <span class="u">no</span>! Are you crazy?! Do I <span class="u">look</span> like the kind of guy to– fuckin’ hell, Tomoyo. I’d march down to the damn police station myself. <span class="u">Fuck</span>.”</em></p><p>
  <em>“Okay, okay! I had to ask – I love you, dear cousin, but if that <span class="u">was</span>the case, I’d have to slap some sense into you.”<br/>
</em>
</p><p><em>“Just fucking give me a heart attack, God.” </em>Kurogane mumbles, chair squeaking as he settles back into it, and Fai’s hands unclench just a little as, once again, forehead meets desk with a cosy <em>thump</em>.</p><p>
  <em>“He’s not a student – a fucking student, <span class="u">really</span>? Are you trying to give me nightmares – he’s a member of staff. A <span class="u">teacher</span>. And you know as well as I do that dating where you work is a terrible idea, especially in this economy.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Kurogane…”<br/>
</em>
</p><p>Kurogane huffs something that could be a laugh, if laughter were bitter and quick, strained through the teeth and bleed of all mirth. Fai’s heart squeezes to hear it. “<em>I need the job more than I need the heartache, Tomoyo. Besides, <span class="u">I’m</span> not– he’d <span class="u">never</span>– ugh, just forget it.”</em></p><p>Of the sixty staff on campus, there are thirty-seven teachers who work at Horitsuba. Eleven of whom identify as male – not including Fai himself, of course. Fai is not… Fai would <em>never </em>be the kind of man Kurogane would be interested in, so counting himself in the tally would be absurd.</p><p>Eleven possible heartbreakers for Kurogane to pine over, to make him sigh like a man wounded as he pours his heart out to his cousin (however unwillingly). </p><p>It’s unlikely he’s mooning for Sorata, considering the man is happily married (and obnoxiously, deliriously so at that, as anyone caught within hearing distance will testify) so that makes ten.</p><p>Fai knows Kurogane thinks Fuuma Monou is the kind of dickhead that deserves a kick up the arse – he heard as much, muttered under Kurogane’s breath while they both stared in dismay as said dickhead made a, well, <em>arse</em> of himself at the end-of-year Staff Dinner Formal After Party – so <em>he’s </em>definitely out of the running. Mr Kinomoto is a widowed single father of two, and content to remain so… and besides, Kurogane respects the man too much to disrespect him that way. Even if he does pull off the Indiana Jones Academic Lecturer look with considerable charm for a man in his forties.</p><p>But even if Fai trims the numbers down further, it won’t make a difference: Kurogane has feelings for someone, feelings that cause him distress even as Tomoyo murmurs soothing nothings somewhere behind a closed classroom door.</p><p>Feelings that are nothing to do with <em>Fai</em>.</p><p><em>“I’m sorry,”</em> says Tomoyo, and she sounds like she means it. <em>“I didn’t want to upset you. I should have stopped when you asked.”</em></p><p><em>“It’s fine,”</em> mumbles Kurogane, sounding tired. Fai feels tired too, and guilty for hearing something he definitely wasn’t meant to. <em>“If I was gonna talk to anyone about it, it woulda been you, anyway.”</em></p><p>
  <em>“You know… if you just <span class="u">talked</span> to–”<br/>
</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Not gonna happen, Tomoyo."<br/>
</em>
</p><p>Slowly, carefully, Fai crouches down; picks up the sheet of paper that had slipped free of his grasp. He’s encroached on Kurogane’s privacy more than enough for one afternoon – better he head quickly to the science lab and try to forget everything he’s just heard. Kurogane would be <em>mortified </em>if he knew Fai had listened to him talking about his feelings, and Fai cares about him too much to ever let him know.</p><p>“<em>You could be wrong, though</em>,” says Tomoyo, as Fai turns back for the staircase. “<em>Maybe the guy you have feelings for has feelings for you, too</em>.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If you were looking for a happy ending, <i>there isn't one.</i></p><p>[evil laugh]</p></blockquote></div></div>
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